Thundercracker/Cartoon continuity
We can absolutely state with certainty that in the Generation 1 cartoon continuity, Thundercracker definitely existed. ''The Transformers'' cartoon In the early days of the Decepticon rebellion, Thundercracker and Skywarp both faced the powerful protectors of Cybertron's cities, the Guardian robots. According to Thundercracker, he was often not very successful. Thundercracker was one of Megatron's elite warriors, participating in the attack on the Autobot spacecraft and joining the rest of the Earth-bound Transformers in their several-million-year nap under an inactive volcano. He awoke when the rest of the Decepticons did, and took part in their attempts to gather energon and escape the planet Earth, which he loathed for being too "flat". While keeping watch around the Decepticon encampement, he and Reflector spotted what they thought was an approaching Autobot, though in actuality, they had only spied two of the planet's native inhabitants, in a non-sentient vehicle. Following a raid on an oil platform to obtain the energy needed for a new space cruiser, Thundercracker took part in the Decepticon attack on Sherman Dam, where he and Skywarp tussled with Mirage and Cliffjumper and were knocked off the walkway they were fighting on by the aristocratic Autobot. Later, while pillaging the ruby crystal mines of Burma, Thundercracker was complaining to Skywarp about his dislike for Earth when they stumbled across the Autobot Bumblebee and his ally Sparkplug Witwicky. They immediately stated beating them up, but unbeknownst to the two jets, the pair had planted a bomb in the mines which promptly went off and buried them all. Megatron soon blasted the Decepticons free, and Thundercracker then help steal rocket fuel from Cape Carlson air base, making his his mark by destroying a couple of tanks. The fuel stolen provided the Decepticons with enough energy to launch their new space cruiser, but the Autobots arrived to stop them; during the brawl, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Laserbeak unleashed an aerial assault upon Cliffjumper and Wheeljack. The Decepticon soon broke off the fight to board their ship, but sabotage courtesy of Mirage grounded their plans, literally and metaphorically. The Decepticons' rebuilt their crashed space cruiser into an undersea headquarters, and soon attempted to established a space bridge between Earth and Cybertron. Thundercracker was seen flying away after the Decepticons trapped the Autobots in a cave to keep them out of the way, but the Autobots soon freed themselves, and their interference resulted in Megatron disappearing through the bridge. Starscream declared himself leader in Megatron's absence, and Thundercracker and Soundwave attacked a hydroelectric power plant alongside him, despite Thundercracker's lack of confidence in his leadership abilities. Opposed by the Autobots again, Thundercracker bashed the charging Cliffjumper with a pillar from the building, but when the energon cubes they were making were destroyed, they fled. As they escaped, they were contacted by the still-living Megatron, and Thundercracker happily put himself back under his true leader's command. To repair the damage they took in the fight, the Decepticons struck at an airplane factory for spare parts, but while Thundercracker was having his wings reattached, Bluestreak and Prowl crashed the party. The jets shot at the Autobots, but Chip Chase took control of the injured Prowl and had him unleash a spectacular assault forcing Starscream's squad to escape. They proceeded to abduct young genius Chip Chase and brought him to the laboratory where the other Decepticons were waiting, where they extracted an antimatter formula from his brain. Thundercracker was just about to "get rid" of the now-useless Chip when the Autobots burst in and saved him, but with the antimatter successfully synthesized, the Decepticons soon staged an attack on Autobot Headquarters. After being saved from Sunstreaker "jet judo" by Starscream, Thundercracker handed Megatron the antimatter cubes they had synthesized, massively increasingly his power. Thanks to Chip's ingenuity, however, the Decepticons were foiled and had no choice but to retreat. While raiding a munitions factory alongside Skywarp and Starscream, Thundercracker was confronted by Optimus Prime, who the three jets were together able to heavily damage. Though Megatron had them escape rather than face the other Autobots who soon turned up, Thundercracker was soon back on the battlefield when the Decepticons attacked the demoralized Autobots outside their own headquarters at sunset that day, though he was immediately clobbered by Huffer as soon as he landed. When Megatron suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of a recovered Optimus Prime, Starscream smugly instructed everybody to take Megatron back for repairs. Following this, Thundercracker witnessed the rebirth of Starscream's former colleague Skyfire and was shot down by Slag during a mission at the Great Falls. When Thundercracker and Starscream were instructed to obtain steel for Megatron, Thundercracker insisted that no Earth-made metal would be strong enough for their purposes. Naturally, Starscream refused to listen, and when the weapon frame they constructed from the purloined steel proved unable to handle the energies of the Crystal of Power Megatron had obtained, Starscream deflected all blame onto Thundercracker. Stuck with guard duty as a result, Thundercracker caught Skyfire snooping around, but actually contemplated letting the Autobot destroy the crystal so that he could make "that geeky Starscream" take the blame. Unfortunately for Thundercracker, Starscream caught him in the act, and blackmailed him into obeying his orders, otherwise he would reveal his treachery to Megatron. The Autobots soon destroyed the crystal themselves, and as the Decepticos withdrew, Thundercracker rather boldly chose to openly mock Megatron and Starscream for underestimating their enemies. Thundercracker and the other jets hauled an unstable meteor off for the Decepticons, then later attacked a solar plant located in India as a diversion so Megatron could put his current plan into motion by orchestrating the capture of Sparkplug Witwicky. The Autobots assaulted Decepticon Headquarters to rescue Sparkplug, and during this underwater battle, Thundercracker got hit by one of his own missiles when Bumblebee redirected it back at him. The rescue of Sparkplug was all part of Megtron's plan, however; equipped with a mind-controlling hypno-chip, Sparkplug crippled the Autobots' defense systems and weapons from within, allowing Thundercracker and the Decepticons to invade their base. Although they were driven off by a deluge of fire-retardant foam, they then went to work assembling a gigantic space bridge, which Megatron used to transport Cybertron itself into Erth's orbit. The appearance of Cybertron threw Earth's atmosphere into chaos; the storm winds the planet's gravity created blew Thundercracker's flamethrower blasts right back into his and Starscream's face when the air commander insisted he fire on the Autobots. Thundercracker was later loaded with energon cubes to transport to the orbiting Cybertron, but didn't even get the opportunity to life off before Earth tremors caused by the disrupted gravity toppled him and his cargo all over Decepticon Headquarters. During a later battle on a tropical island, Thundercracker was shot down by Optimus Prime, then fought hand-to-hand with Ironhide. When they noticed Megatron departing for Cybertron by himself, Thundercracker and Skywarp broke off the fight to follow him. Megatron subsequently disappeared for a shot time when the Autobots blew up his shuttle craft, and Thundercracker took something resembling command, though really, he was just trying to get everyone to stop arguing and finish repairing their damaged headquarters. Luckily, Megatron soon returned, and Thundercracker and the rest of the Decepticons went with him when he set out to deal with Starscream and Dr. Arkeville. Thundercracker accompanied Megatron and Soundwave to Bali to investigate sightings of giant robot insects, which Thundercracker soon deduced were, in fact, Decepticons whose idento-computers had given them insect alternate modes. Joining forces with these "Insecticons", the Decepticons battled a group of Autobots who had also come to investigate, then raided an oil refinery, where Thundercracker helped Rumble make energon cubes. The Autobots followed, so Thundercracker ignited an oil spill to try and incinerate them, only for the Autobots to swim under then push up the dock he was standing on, hurling him into the blaze he had created. When the Insecticons cut and ran, Thundercracker followed Megatron's lead and left to pursue the treacherous bugs. Like all the other Decepticons, Thundercracker donated his power chip rectifier to Megatron in order to increase his leader's powers for a one-on-one battle with Optimus Prime. This allowed Megatron to use Thundercracker's sonic boom power, deafening and disorienting Optimus and leaving him open to the blast that ended the duel. The Autobots were poised to leave Earth in accordance with the agreement they had made with their enemies, until they learned of Megatron's illegal enhancements; overpowered by the Autobot counterattack, Thundercracker and his comrades were sent toppling into a crevice filled with lava. Thundercracker survived his fall with the rest of his group, and later joined in attacks on Air Force rocket bases, and the hunt for Autobot X. During the Decepticons' solar needle scheme in Africa, he was sent flying into a tree by a kick from Ratchet, and was subsequently the first to beat retreat when the needle threatened to destroy the sun. When the Decepticons took over New York City, Thundercracker was part of an aerial strike force that bombarded the Autobots as they attempted to recover Optimus Prime's stolen right arm from the Decepticons' fortress. Thundercracker participated in a diversionary attack on Autobot Headquarters, causing a landslide with his blasts that stopped Prowl in his tracks. Later, he and the other Decepticons boarded a rocket they intended to take back to Cybertron, but the Autobots damaged the fuel tanks and forced them to jump ship. Thundercracker tried to fend off Optimus Prime when he came seeking to retrieve electro-cells the Decepticon had stolen, and was among the party who came to steal Wheeljack's Immobilizer. When the Decepticons trapped the Autobots in their vehicle modes with the transfixatron, Thundercracker used his incendiary guns to overheat the Autobots' engines and immobilize them, then helped demonstrate the crushing machine the Decepticons planned to use to destroy their impaired enemies. The few Autobots who had escaped transfixation then arrived to rescue their comrades; Thundercracker tried and failed to stop them, and the outnumbered Decepticons retreated. Thundercracker disliked the idea of sharing power with the fish-men of the underwater city of Sub-Atlantica, but went along with the plan anyway, working on the mechanisms to raise the city to the ocean's surface and dealing with the Autobots who attempted to stop their plan to take over Washington, D.C.. While strafing the Autobots from the air during a battle in the city, however, Thundercracker was ensnared by a grappling line fired by Brawn and leashed to the Washington Monument, allowing Optimus Prime to blast him out of the sky. Later, Thundercracker and Starscream snatched Dr. Fujiyama, the famous scientist's creation Nightbird, and had to help restrain the hysterical Starscream when Megatron threatened to replace him with the robot ninja. Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Starscream all tried taking on Optimus Prime together when the Autobots were investigating a mysterious new energy source in a crevice, but all three were taken down by the Autobot leader. Unbeknownst to Thundercracker, Megatron was putting a complicated plan into motion that involved clones of Prime and Starscream; as such, he was surprised to hear "Starscream" announce for everybody to hold their fire, given that had an Autobot right in his hands. Nevertheless, when Starscream explained his plan to fight "Optimus Prime", Thundercracker went along with it and was the one who announced the start of the match. On a later mission, he ambushed the Autobots from above, only to be swatted away by an Autobot-controlled Devastator. He was subsequently around at the mission to Nova Power Plant, firing at the Autobots and a group of helicopter-piloting humans. Soon after, he was one of the Decepticons enslaved by the Insecticons at Iron Mountain, but they were freed from their mind-controlling cerebro-shells when the Nova-powered Insecticons were defeated. Later, Thundercracker gathered energon cubes from Dinobot Island, where he also assisted in repelling Autobots before being trampled by a stampede of the island's native dinosaurs. Thundercracker and the other jets took a few shots at the Autobots when they were caught in a ravine, but were foiled when Smokescreen used his eponymous ability to blind them. Next, he assisted in the recovery of the wreck of the Decepticons' original space cruiser in South America; that mission went so well, he and the other Decepticons went on an energon binge and got completely smashed. He also disguised himself as an Autobot as part of a Decepticon plan to frame the Autobots and have them banished from Earth. With the Autobots gone, the Decepticons took over Central City, where Thundercracker and Skywarp supervised human slaves filling up energon cubes at a power plant. He and the other Decepticon fliers fended off a squad of fighter jets that attempted to liberate the city, but soon, they were overwhelmed by the Autobots, who had returned from their banishment. Spotted landing at a commercial airport by Spike Witwicky, Thundercracker and Thrust were inadvertently responsible for alerting the Autobots to the location of the base the Decepticons had hidden on the airfield. Thundercracker and the jets were royally thrashed by the Dinobots, and things only got worse when, soon after, the Decepticons all began malfunctioning due to cybertonium deterioration. Unaware of the cause of their breakdown, they went on an energy raid to get some fresh energon; met in battle by the similarly-impaired Autobots, Thundercracker was able to easily shoot Mirage when the Autobot's invisibility power failed to work. Thundercracker helped steal Professor Haley's Voltronic Galaxer and took it to the moon, where Megatron used it to disrupt Earth's communications. While the Autobots were struggling with the resultant chaos, Thundercracker and Ramjet launched a surprise assault that damaged Powerglide and Prime. After going on a mission to the Great Britain, , Thundercracker served as a guard alongside Skywarp, ensuring that the captive Perceptor and Seaspray stayed in line. Rendered invulnerable by a coat of electrum, Thundercracker took part in the mission to topple Omega Supreme, but when he and Skywarp went to go retrieve another captive Autobot, Beachcomber, from his cell at the base, the tricky Autobot geologist managed to knock them both out. The Decepticons attempted to attack the now electrum-powered Autobots at the lagoon, but their electrum began to wear off and Thundercracker was shot down and they were forced to retreat. Thundercracker assisted in guarding the Decepticons' base in the Pine Barrens, and went with the other Decepticons to a valley that was full of Morphobots, where he didn't do much of anything except hide when an Autobot convoy arrived, then retreat. When Astrotrain declared himself leader of the Decepticons, Thundercracker snarked at the idea, and it certainly didn't help when Astrotrain's "troops" got themselves in a mess. He barely escaped with his fellow jets when one of the troops accidentally created a flood. He later made a bet with Thrust and Ramjet (three energon cubes!) over whether or not Megatron would prevail over the rebellious Triple Changers and Devastator. sure used to give us a pounding. By that, I mean we needed plastic surgery.]] Thundercracker, Starscream, and Skywarp found themselves pursued by the newest Autobots, the Aerialbots, when they captured several human dignitaries. Though Thundercracker came out a loser in his dogfight with Fireflight and Slingshot, the Aerialbots were all impressed by the Decepticons jets' flying skills—something that allowed the three Decepticons to lure the naive young Autobots into a trap on Cybertron by offering to talk with them. The Aerialbots were sent nine million years into the past by the Kronosphere time machine, and the Decepticons tried to keep the other Autobots from rescuing them by reanimating a dormant Guardian robot—though the mere sight of the huge sentinel gave Thundercracker the shivers, as he remembered his encounters with them back in the "old days". The Aerialbots soon returned and formed Superion to destroy the Guardian. Thundercracker and Skywarp were guarding a space bridge when Starscream flew in and requested to go to Cybertron. The two of them refused to let anybody through without proper authorization, but soon decided that Starscream's gun aimed directly into their faces was authorization enough. Using personality components he liberated on his trip to Cybertron, Starscream created the Combaticons, who Thundercracker then battled against along with the other Decepticons. Once Starscream was dealt with, the Decepticons got back to energy-gathering, and Thundercracker and Dirge were charged with transporting some freshly-made cubes to the space bridge. When Starscream and the Combaticons returned to threaten Earth and Cybertron, Thundercracker was part of the allied Autobot-Decepticon group who headed to Cybertron to stop their plot. Soon after, he took part attacking Autobot Headquarters and Defensor. Notes *Thundercracker never uses his sonic boom powers in the Generation 1 cartoon (the script for "Fire on the Mountain" called for him to make a "thunder noise", but the sound effect was absent from the finished episode). Megatron, however, was shown utilizing the ability (after taking Thundercracker's power chip rectifier) during his battle with Optimus Prime in "Heavy Metal War". Incidentally, in the Japanese dub of that episode, Megatron announces the name of Thundercracker's attack: "Sonic Beam!" (yes, "beam", not "boom".) *"Fire on the Mountain" is the only episode of the original cartoon to play on Thundercracker's uncertain loyalties, a trait called out in his original bio. However, the official Sunbow synopsis for the episode indicates that it was originally going to take the idea even further: ::"The Autobots arrive to stop Decepticons, and Jetfire tries to convince a beleaguered Thundercracker to switch loyalties and join the Autobots. He is caught and wounded by Starscream. Spike, with the help of a local native girl, goes to his rescue, and Jetfire -- with a little assist from Thundercracker -- turns away the Decepticons and destroys the "Crystal of Power."http://tfarchive.com/cartoons/bible/#069 References Category:Generation 1 Decepticons Category:Robotmasters Decepticons Category:Seekers Category:Wings Universe Decepticons